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I HATED being pregnant all the vomitting, nausea, headaches, pains, haertburn, ribcage poking, stretch marks, and excess skin left on my stomach SUCKED!!! The first pregnancy in my opinion is the easiest though it also has the longest and toughest labor since you';ve never pushed a wtermelon out before, and i have my worst stitched with the first since i tore. TMI
ANYHOW...even with all that I LOVE my children and they were worth it.
But I'm glad I'm done at two. I wouldn't do it again!! YIKES!!
I have friends who breezed through pregnancy with no symptoms other than expanding bellies. I have other friends who ended up in the hospital with IVs due to severe vomiting, or were put on bed rest for months.
I've been pregnant twice and just found out I'm expecting #3. No symptoms yet, but here's what I remember from #1 and #2.
First trimester: nausea, exhaustion, tender breasts and a strange pulling, cramping feeling in my lower abdomen.
Second trimester: Relatively easy, but some heartburn.
Third trimester: Severe swelling in all of my joints and my face. I looked like a different person and could only wear slippers or flip-flops.
Regardless of how easy or hard you pregnancy symptoms are, you'll definitely think it was worth it the moment you hold your baby for the first time.
One thing I would recommend is to start exercising and eating right if you're considering having a baby. Exercising will help your body to feel stronger and boost your energy levels. A good diet will nourish the growing baby and prevent you from gaining too much weight.
Last edited by LisaMc46; 06-09-2009 at 09:55 AM..
Reason: spelling
Look, its uncomfortable, but your mileage may vary.
You could get hyperemesis gravida, or you could never barf or feel the tiniest bit queasy. You could throw up all the way through the pregnancy, even on the way to L&D (I met someone while I was pg who told me that is what she went through and why she has only one child - people love to tell you the horrible things they went through).
You could have cravings/aversions, or you could eat whatever you want. You could develop gestational diabetes, or not.
You could have glowing beautiful skin and no stretch marks, or you could get stretch marks and PUPPS.
You could have an easy, unmedicated, fast birth, with an easy recovery, or you could have a placenta previa or transverse lie and need a planned c-section, or you could have a big baby that causes you extreme pain and a long, painful recovery with stitches and tears.
You could have an uneventful pregnancy, or you could spend every week at the perinate's office (like I did with my 4th) because you have a velamentous cord, or vasa previa, or some other high-risk condition (you could even have multiples!).
It really really varies. You never know what it will be like, each and every time, until you are pregnant.
As far as the ribcage, it was always on my right side, and I used to sit with my right arm draped over my head to stretch the area out and give the baby more room. Its uncomfortable, but getting 4 broken hours of sleep each night is also uncomfortable.
I've read plenty of books on the topic but I find they don't get into detail about things like: what does it feel like to have legs/feet shoved under your rib cage? I cannot imagine. Can anyone describe what this feels like in detail?
I've had three kids, all of whom were pretty big babies. I don't remember the kicks hurting up under the ribs. They did feel weird ... really weird. Sometimes there was an "Oh!" or an "Oof!" or an "Ack!" but no "Ouch." I did have a little trouble with sciatica with my older daughter (jolts of pain down the back of my legs), but I already had problems with that from ballet.
When the baby gets big, she will be bundled pretty tightly in there. She won't move around as much because there's not much room.
I did wake up a lot with leg cramps. That's caused by dehydration. Drinking lots and lots of water will help.
Heartburn is common and no fun but not particularly painful.
Women can get Braxton Hicks contractions during pregnancy (your body is practicing). These are uncomfortable and might make you stop and just breathe until they go away, but they don't really hurt.
My own pregnancies were fairly easy. Yes, I had queeziness (though no real morning sickness), I felt tired sometimes, I had heartburn, swollen ankles and both of my kids jammed their feet into my ribs at times (for the most part that sounds a lot worse than the reality).
I dreaded and worried about labor pains only to wind up have c-sections with both of my kids. The first baby needed a quick delivery due to a drop in his heart rate (our son was born fine and with high Apgars). The second delivery was planned.
Personally, I have been through two pregnancies and both resulted in beautiful, healthy boys. I even had natural childbirth with both!
I tend to think some women exaggerate the symptoms and the pain to garner more sympathy. I'm sure I will get blasted for that comment, but have you ever sat and listened to mothers discussing their pregnancies? Most of the time, they are one-upping each other. "Well, I'm sure that was painful, but listen to my story!"
Every single woman is different. That's the frustrating answer for those of us who like our lives well ordered and don't like surprises. You may have the worst pregancy from day one until you deliver. You may be one of those happy, glowy moms who can eat anything without heartburn and your delivery time is a mere few hours. I have heard absolute nightmare stories about delivery (a coworker had to have an emergency c-section and the pain medication didn't work...she eventually passed out) and being pregnant (random projectile vomitting) and yet every single one of those people went on to have another baby.
I am not going to be one who tries to convince someone to have a baby. That is a very personal decision for all of us. However, I will ask you, do you drive? Are you terrified of having a car accident? Are you militant about your lifestyle and what you eat? Are you terrified of having a heart attack? Do you wear high heels? How about twisting or breaking an ankle? Life sometimes can be unpleasant and even painful. You can chose to hide from anything that may cause you pain or you can decide to go out and live it (albeit cautiously).
For those of us who had fairly conventional pregnancies, the truly uncomfortable part of pregnancy doesn't arrive until well into your last trimester. Morning sickness doesn't affect all of us and those who have it, usually learn how to control it. The first trimester often slips by unnoticed by those who have irregular menstrual cycles. The second trimester is when your bras and pants start to get tight. The third is when you start to waddle, you are always heading to the bathroom to pee, your back aches and you take a lot of naps. But even if you have horrible symptoms, it's only 3 months. Delivery can be very painful for some, but I am not one of those who tried to avoid the marvelous epidural. I practically had the anesthesiologist meet me at the door! And if you think you cannot bear it, just be thankful you aren't trying to give birth during the Middle Ages! Mankind has survived even without modern technology and pain relief.
However, if you are an overly anxious person, that could be bad for your pregnancy. You don't want to have high blood pressure or heart rate while pregnant.
It depends completely on the person. It's hit and miss. I have met many women who didn't mind pregnancy at all, and some who felt better than ever when they were pregnant. For me, pregnancies have been the most difficult times of my life. Labor is no picnic either. In the end, it was totally worth it to me. But it was much harder than I ever could have imagined. But really, it completely depends on the person and the pregnancy. My second was easier than my first, but it still was awful. Will I do it again? Yes, because the rewards of being a mother are worth it to me.
I tend to think some women exaggerate the symptoms and the pain to garner more sympathy.
I'm sure this is true sometimes, but often it is difficult for women who have relatively easy pregnancies to understand what it is like for women who have awful pregnancies. That is true for most things, you never understand something completely until you have experienced it the way that person has experienced it. Pregnancy is different for everyone, and affects each person differently.
Be careful not to assume that because your experience wasn't so bad that it is like that for everyone.
That is a very personal decision for all of us. However, I will ask you, do you drive? Are you terrified of having a car accident? Are you militant about your lifestyle and what you eat? Are you terrified of having a heart attack? Do you wear high heels? How about twisting or breaking an ankle? Life sometimes can be unpleasant and even painful. You can chose to hide from anything that may cause you pain or you can decide to go out and live it (albeit cautiously).
Actually, I can identify with the things you wrote here--I am pretty disciplined about my lifestyle and what I eat, am terrified of getting a serious illness, and never wear high heels for exactly that reason. I have a mild anxiety problem, and I think it will spiral out of control if I get pregnant.
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It's impossible to know beforehand
And if you think you cannot bear it, just be thankful you aren't trying to give birth during the Middle Ages! Mankind has survived even without modern technology and pain relief. 
